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Rhymefest - Man In The MirrorAlbum Review by:
Jason Fleurant
Monday, January 14, 2008
 Chicago seems to me the Hip-Hop hot bed as of right this moment. Embodying the styles of all over the country from East, West, and The South perfectly (do to being in the Midwest). Artist like Kanye West, Common, Lupe Fiasco, and Twista have enjoyed both critical and commercial success. Even Do Or Die had a nice comeback with the Kanye assisted “Higher”. Rhymefest is no exception to this, even though his has been more critical (Grammy for co-writing “Jesus Walks”) than commercial.
Getting his solid underground fan base ready for his new album “El Che” (an concept album) with “Man In The Mirror”. Man In The Mirror is what Rhymefest calls a Michael Jackson dedication album. Something of which we don’t see much of in Hip-Hop. The tracks are all Michael Jackson or Jackson Five samples masterfully done, and also includes hilarious skits of blended conversations between Fest and the gloved one.
The Best Kept Secret produced “Can’t Make It” sets the speakers a blaze as Fest mashes with a fury over the drums “serving up the hood, like an entrée/ with over 300 outcast (OutKast) with out a motherfucking Andre”. Riding alongside this experiment is Talib Kweli on “Never Can Say Goodbye”. Kweli’s flow is so on point it ridiculous “these rap nig*as is more punk than Sid Vicious be/ or the nig*a from I Love New York”.
All the tracks are great riding or just on the block bumping your MP3 music, But the 'OFFICIAL' keep on repeat joints are “No Sunshine”, “Foolin’ Around”, and “Man In The Mirror”. On “No Sunshine” the sample is that of young MJ’s cover of “Ain’t No Sunshine”. The soul oozes as the loop plays Mike belting in the background as Fest tone floats smoothly as he pushes the emotion “have you ever wanted something so bad, till you got it/ and it looses all the magic/ and it just don’t feel exotic/ take it for granted/ beat it up, till you loose it/ is it your car, or your money, your girl, or your music/ or you take the blue pill, now you livin’ that illusion/ I spit mind out/ now I’m livin’ in my movement”.
“Foolin’ Around” finds Fest dropping the cautionary tale of cheating on your lady and vice versa. Starting off with humorous honesty to explain his tendency to cheat with “now I was blessed with a brain and a dick/ that’s fine/ but I only got enough blood to use one at a time”. With-out-a-doubt this could be a smash if released as a single *hint, hint Fest*. Maybe I’m reaching but it sounds as though Fest took a shot at the group Kidz N The Hall in the song with “If you don’t cheat, you must be gayer than the kids in the hall”. I don’t know just throwing it out there.
The title track has Fest dropping a verse over a loop spitting “I used to feel like, God don’t love me/ maybe the problem is I don’t love me/ I was living wrong, so my mom don’t trust me/ but I know who I am/ God don’t make ugly” and then letting the rest of the original song play. A great way to finish an Michael Jackson dedication, allowing the man himself to rock it out.
From beginning to the end, this uniquely put together piece shows Hip-Hop can take things a step further. Leave it to another Chi-town MC to usher in another wind of change in the game. Now I’m just waiting on a James Brown or Prince dedication joint.
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